Press-bed.



FRANK C. LEETI-IEM, OF MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK.

PRESS-BED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 5, 1908.

Patented Apr. 12, 1910.

Serial No. 436,862.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK C. LEETHEM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Middletown, in the county of Orange and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Press-Bed, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to the art of printing, and especially to press beds.

The object of the invention is to provide a press bed having a construction which will enable printing plates to be set up thereupon at any desired point, and further, to provide an arrangement which will enable the plates to be unlocked or removed at any point without affecting the lock-up of the entire bed.

In the construction of the press bed, the backing for the printing plates is formed of blocks which carry adjustable hooks in channels which pass continuously through the blocks. The entire backing or body of the press is formed of these blocks. In one position, the block forms a smooth backing for the printing plates, but any block may be reversed so as to bring its channel upper- .most, and so that its adjustable hook may be presented to the edge of the printing plate to retain it upon the press bed. While there is a limit of movement of the adjusting hooks within their blocks, two of these blocks may be placed in alinement, so that a continuous channel is formed from one to the other. The hook may then be adjusted to any point within its channel. In this way, the hooks may engage the edge of the printing plate, whatever be its relation with respect to the backing blocks.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts to be more fully described hereinafter and particularly set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a' press bed constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical section, taken at the edge of the press bed, and passing through a portion of the plate mounted thereupon. This view illustrates the manner in which the body of the bed is constructed, and shows how the hooks operate to retain the printing plates; and Fig. 3 is a perspective of a slug or filler piece, such as is used in alining the hooks at the proper point.

Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 represents the frame of the press bed, which is of rectangular form, as shown. The opening in this frame is completely filled by backing blocks 2, which are of square form. They are preferably made according to the pica system. The blocks are square, and measure eight ems on their side edges. The inside dimensions of the frame are even multiples of the dimensions of the blocks, so that a plurality of the blocks will fit neatly in the frame, as shown. On two sides the inner edges of the frame 1 are formed with channels or grooves 3, and in each of these grooves a stick 4: is received. These sticks take the place of furniture, and are adapted to be clamped against the body of the blocks by lock-up or clamping screws 5, which pass through the side bars, as shown. All the blocks 2 are similarly constructed. Each block is formed with a wide channel 6, which passes completely through the same, parallel with a pair of its opposite side faces, and the sides of this channel are under-cut to form grooves 7 in each block.

There is provided a hook 8, which consists of a block having tongues 9 at the side edges thereof which are received in the grooves 7, as indicated. The body of the hook 8 is flush with the outer face of the block, and the hook proper 10 projects abovethe face of the block, as indicated in Fig. 2, so as to engage the beveled edge of the printing plate 11, to retain the same. The body of the hook 8 is threaded so as to receive an adjust-ing screw 12, which passes through the same, as shown in Fig. 2. This screw normally projects at both sides of the hook, and the head 13 of the screw is disposed behind the hook, as shown. This head is slightly rounded, as shown, and provided with transverse cuts 14 at right angles to each other, which enable the screw to be adjusted by means of a pin wrench or similar device. The bases of the blocks are provided with openings 15, which pass completely through to the channels of the blocks, as shown.

As indicated in Fig. 1, the body of the press bed is formed of these blocks 2 in reversed position. However, when it is desired to secure a plate at any point in the press bed, a certain number of these blocks are reversed; that is, they are turned completely over with their channels disposed upwardly. The blocks near the corners of the plate will be selected as indicated in Fig. 1, and the blocks will be set in position so that the channels extend at right angles to the adjacent edge of the plate. In connection with each block, I provide one or more slugs 16, such as the slug shown in Fig. These slugs simply consist of plain blocks having tongues 17 on their side edges, which enable them to be pressed into the channels of the blocks and retained therein. The tongues 17 engage with the grooves 7 in the same manner as the tongues 9. The adjusting screws 12 are cut to even picas in length, and the slugs 16 are also cut to even picas. These slugs 16 may be of different widths, there being preferably two sizes, as shown in Fig. 2. When they are in position. one in front of the screw and one behind it, the dimension of the screw and the slugs, taken together, will be substantially the same as the width of the block. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 2 by the block near the side of the bed. The adjacent blocks are in reversed position, and indicate the manner in which the blocks operate to retain the slugs and the hooks. At the right-hand side of the plate (shown in Fig. 1) its edge is represented as lying close to the meeting line of one row of blocks with the next, and in a position which makes it impossible for the edge of the plate to be clamped in the man ner indicated in Fig. 2. Under these circumstances, I simply reverse two blocks at the proper point, so that their channels are in alinement with each other, one of the blocks being disposed under the edge of the plate and the other at the side of the plate. There will then be formed a continuous channel eX- tending at right angles to the edge of the plate, extending under the plate, and extending outwardly at the side of the plate. In this channel, one of the hooks 8 is provided, and slugs 16 are placed in the two blocks above and behind the hook, so that it may be adjusted to the proper position at the edge of the plate with the head of the screw ex posed at the side. The screw will then be adjusted up with a pin wrench to engage the edge of the plate. In this way, I am enabled to secure a printing plate at any point on the bed by simply reversing the proper blocks and applying the hooks, as described.

It should be understood that the blocks 2 are very accurately cut, so that when two blocks are placed in alinement the channels will register exactly, so as to enable the hooks to slide freely from one block to another.

Attention is called to the rounded rear face of the head 13. This arrangement is adopted so as to enable the screw to shift slightly in a lateral direction in the channel, so as to enable the hook to adjust itself to the edges of the plates, which are slightly out of alinement, or badly out. For the same purpose, the vertical edges of the hooks 8 should not fit closely to the side faces of the channels, which enables the hooks to have a slight lateral movement. Attention is also called to the fact that the plate may be unlocked and removed from the press bed, without necessitating the unlocking of the entire bed.

The screw 12 measures in length upon the same system as the slugs; that is, the slugs are cut on the point system to even picas, and the overall length of the screw is even picas, so that the screw and slugs will justify to the full width of the block; on this account the screw has a fixed position in the block. And furthermore, by placing slugs of different widths before or behind the screw, the position of the screw may be shifted longitudinally in the block, and this of course shifts the hook 8.

It should be noted that the width of each stick 4 is substantially the same as the depth of the channel which receives it so that the sticks can recede completely into the channels. Furthermore, as the sticks are supported on the lower faces of the channels when the frame is picked up or moved about, the sticks will be retained in the channels. In other words the sticks may be completely pocketed in the channels or grooves.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A press bed having a frame, a plurality of blocks mounted in said frame having channels in their upper sides, adjustable hooks mounted in said channels and adapted to engage the edges of the printing plates, a plurality of blocks disposed in reverse position, having channels in their under sides, forming a backing for the said printing plates, and spacing slugs disposed in the channels in the reversed blocks, and retained by said channels.

2. A press bed, having a frame, a plurality of blocks mounted in said frame, said blocks having channels, adjustable hooks mounted in said channels and adapted to engage the edges of a printing plate, a plurality of said blocks being disposed with the channels uppermost, the remainder of said blocks and throughout said press bed being disposed in a reversed position, whereby they constitute a backing for the printing plates, and slugs received in said channels, adapted to be placed before and behind said hooks, to adjust the same, said slugs engaging the sides of said channels and being retained in said blocks when said blocks are in their reversed position.

3. A press bed, comprising a frame, a plurality of blocks disposed in the opening thereof and substantially filling the same, the adjacent sides of said frame having undercut grooves in the inner edges thereof, locking sticks supported in said grooves by the faces thereof and adapted to clamp said blocks, and means for adjusting said locking sticks, said blocks having means for retaining printing plates upon said press bed.

4. A press bed, comprising a frame, a plurality of blocks disposed within said frame, and having channels extending continuously therethrough and adapted to aline to form continuous channels, and adjusting hooks mounted in the channels of certain of said blocks and adapted to slide from one block to the next, said blocks being reversible to form a backing for printing plates throughout the body of said press bed.

5. A printers block comprising a block having a transverse channel, a hook sliding in said channel, an adjusting screw adapted to advance said hook, and slugs placed before and behind said screw, said screw and said slugs being out upon the same system and filling the length of said channel.

6. A printers block having a transverse channel, a hook sliding in sa1d channel, an adjusting screw threaded through said hook and projecting at both sides thereof, and slugs placed before and behind said screw abutting the ends thereof lying in said channels and filling the length of said channel, the length of said screw, the width of said slugs and said blocks being commensurable in the point system.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK C. LEETHEM; Wlitnesses F. D. WIMER, JOHN P. DAVIS. 

